Schreiner’s Media Landscape

Most of today’s articles and stories from the Olympics are about foreign journalists’ first encounters with Beijing’s air pollution. But most of these writers come from big cities including Salt Lake City (left) who have some of the worst air, quantities and forms of airborne pollutants in the world. As critical as I am of the Chinese, it’s time the editors of American media recognized and restate for the benefit of their audience and in the interest of fairness and accuracy that air pollution is a global problem of which THE UNITED STATES AND ITS CITIES ARE THE MAJOR CAUSE.

When athletes start dropping from breathing problems, warnings or other societal alterations occur, those stories should be done. But I think we’ve already gotten the message that Beijing has bad air. Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Houston and other big U.S. cities cannot claim the moral high ground on this issue. America can get away with being preachy about things like democracy, human rights and even product safety when it comes to China. But pollution isn’t one of them.

Farmers markets are mushrooming (had to find some metaphor- it’s an old journalism habit like a facial twitch) all over the country. In Utah, the biggest one is the Downtown Farmers Market at Pioneer Park, 300 West and 300 South. Because we’d just moved here in 2006 and we’ve been out of town most of the summer, we hadn’t had a chance to visit it until this Saturday. We were both shocked and pleased. It’s got to be one of the best and biggest in the country.

First of all, if you’re familar with Salt Lake City, you know there’s lots of parking everywhere. The market’s hours are 8 a.m.-1 p.m. (Saturdays only) so I got down there a little after 9 a.m. I parked less than two blocks from the park. But it was already jammed with people. Even so, there was lots of room to walk, everything was well-organized with no long lines. Plus, you’ll see the latest in tattoos, tee-shirt art and microdogs (do those things really like being carried around like a loaf of organic olive bread?).

Second, the produce is starting to come in and the quality was top-notch. Peaches, apricots (we already had plenty from our neighbors’ trees), melons, berries, corn, zucchini- all organic. You name it- it was there. Fresh lamb, goat products, organic breads, grains, mixes, spices. Contrary to popular misconception and disinformation, the prices were competitive with the grocery stores. We actually paid less for a locally-produced dip, Rico, than we’ve paid at Albertson’s for the same thing.

Third, as Bill McKibben and other eco-conscious writers note, foods purchased at farmers markets help them stay in business and keep rural farmland from being turned into suburban subdivisions, help your local economy, save energy, are better for you and give you and your neighbors a place to mix, catch up and be seen. You can give your money to Trader Joe’s (Monrovia, California), Whole Foods (Austin, Texas)- or to your friends and neighbors with the idea that by giving it to them, some day you’ll get it back.

That just all makes sense. And there’s POPCORN!

A new reader Todd sent me this great info that appears on his own site ecomind and it’s especially important right now. He did a paper about energy use in Utah which contains a lot of very revealing and disturbing facts about who’s causing energy use in Utah to grow out of control, leading to the increased use of dirty, polluting coal, now 95% of all power generated in Utah. Here are some highlights:

Rocky Mountain Power is facing a 2,400 MW deficit by 2012 and Utah is facing a 300-400 MW deficit every two years. Most of this deficit is due to large households central air conditioning systems. National averages for home consumption are 41% for heating and cooling, 39% for appliances (mostly refrigeration), 9% for lighting (25% of 9% reduced by compact flourescents), and 7% on electronics and computers. It has been thought that plasma TV’s will consume as much as a refrigerator. With monetary agendas it’s hard to know what is factual. However, plasma TVs use .34 watts/in2 which is the same as CRT TVs. LCDs use .29 watts/in2 and rear projectors use .14 watts/in2.

Note on his site, as a couple of other readers have since my post about the water needed for nuclear power not being available in Utah, how COAL USES AS MUCH WATER AS REACTORS. But the major blame for waste and extravagance falls on us:

Utah has the cheapest power of any state at 5.99 cents per kilowatt. Although it is argued that the low price of electricity encourages business in Utah it also creates wasteful practices. Also, Utah’s ethnocentric culture, politics, liquor laws, and lack of diversity discourage business investment. Coal plant emissions create environmental feedback as well. Water consumption per MW for coal plants is likely to be comparable to nuclear plants.

Emissions from Utah electric power generators in 2002 currently excluding mercury and other elements: Sulfur Dioxide 32,133 tons Nitrogen oxides 71,886 tons Carbon Dioxide 37,746,475 tons Total Utah generator emissions: 37,850,494 tons were just over half of 1% of the total U.S. emissions which were 7.2 billion metric tons or 6.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases (in 2005).

Before you switch on the AC again today, remember the swamp cooler- if you have one. At low humidity like we’ve been having, they will keep your house 15-20 degrees cooler than the outside temperature and use 1/7 of the power. As one reader has pointed out, on high pollution days (the past few have been Yellow in the valley), swamp coolers will suck ozone into your home which could cause reactions with substances inside your home releasing hazardous chemicals. But remember: air conditioning units release CFCs into the air which create ozone. So you’re aggravating the problem by running the AC.

My recommendation for escaping the heat, go camping in the Uintahs. Less than one hour away- and about 30 degrees cooler.

Please read Todd’s paper for more on this, oil shale and energy speculation in Utah, and more great information on why efficiency, conservation and renewables are the way to go for Utah’s energy future.

The stats are not good: crime in Utah is way up, especially in the growing areas of Provo-Orem/Utah County and St. George/Washington County. This is likely to set off a new round of gun sales among people who can’t stand the idea of living in peace and are not comfortable unless they and their families are in constant fear- if not of unknown intruders but of the person who knows where the gun is stashed.

If you don’t think this is possible, it’s happening already. First, a West Jordan man tried to shoot a neighbor boy he suspected of being a home invader. The boy was entering the man’s home to check on his dogs as the man asked him to while he was on vacation. But the man came home from his vacation early and forgot about the teen. Fortunately, the homeowner’s incompetence also made him a terrible shot. He missed with all three bullets.

Second, an unarmed man is shot dead by a security guard at a Salt Lake restaurant. The guard claims the man yelled threats at him and put his hand in his pocket as if to be drawing a weapon. Third, but far from the final indication: an Idaho pro-gun group parades through the Boise zoo with their weapons strapped openly on their belts. Why they were doing this is unclear though one of them said “Coming to the zoo was something we could do together, like any family would.”

Perhaps they were afraid they would be attacked by a chimpanzee. If so, the chimpanzee could legitimately plead self-defense. It makes about as much sense.

The perception of Utah is that its conservatism is tantamount to a lack of progress. But anyone who lives here or visits knows that’s not true. The road system here is advanced (if not a little too pervasive), the tax system is simpler, better balanced and monitored, government is streamlined and nearly corruption-free. And with the traditional LDS emphasis on disaster preparedness, Utah is often in the vanguard of societal trends of self-preservation and maintenance of order.

That’s why we get the news that suburban construction permits in the Salt Lake area are dropping significantly and inner-city permits are growing more than commensurately. The effort to build more housing in SLC has been accelerating for years to try and resurrect the downtown from non-use and decay. The LDS-driven Downtown Rising renovation project has turned decidedly green- so much that the Sierra Club has given it a glowing endorsement. Now, we see the double-punch of the gasoline and mortgage crises motivating Utahs high and mighty to do the right things and move more folks closer to their jobs, speed up expansion of the TRAX mass transit system to the airport (the new train just started running from Ogden to SLC), and generally sensitize the state’s population to the idea that the era of cheap gas is gone forever and the suburban lifestyle that so many crave is losing its most important elements, including cheap, easy mortgage loans for 5,000 sq. ft. McMansions in Draper and Herriman.

Hopefully, our state’s movers and shaker caught the wave in time to avert aggravating one of Utah’s glaring weaknesses: one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the country. 

People in Utah understand what a major development it is for a leading environmental organization to commend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) for anything. But that’s what’s happened with the Sierra Club’s very public approval of the Downtown Rising/City Creek renovation of LDS properties in the heart of Salt Lake City.

When the multi-zillion dollar project was announced a couple of years ago, I contacted the designers by email and asked them to please consider the environment and sustainability in their plans. Apparently they listened- maybe not to me but to someone who probably explained to them that the LDS has not exactly been in the vanguard of progressive environmental thinking. Of course, the proof is in the pudding. We’ll see if the development turns out the way it’s planned and whether it really does cut down on fossil-fuel burning vehicles and buildings, encourage healthier lifestyles and attract more people to live and visit downtown SLC.

The statements made in the Deseret News article by the church are interesting, thoughtful and illuminating indeed. In a way, they indicate a paradigm shift in church policy toward stewardship, conservation, and sustainability. I hope it all comes true.

White-Faced Ibis from Ken Schreiner on Vimeo.

On my recent tour of some of southern Utah’s national parks, I stayed in a tipi for a week outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. The tipi was located in an isolated area next to a large pond. One evening I looked out and saw a couple of rather large, long-beaked, burgundy-colored birds hunting through the reeds. In my past life, I wouldn’t have known what they were, wouldn’t have the ability or equipment to videotape them, or perhaps not even cared. But through my training as a volunteer guide at The Nature Conservancy’s Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, I knew instantaneously that they were white-faced ibis: a migratory bird that passes through or stays in Utah seasonally with thousands of them gathering around Great Salt Lake.

With my news instincts kicking in (get the picture while you can because it could be gone forever), I grabbed my camera and tripod immediately and began shooting as these normally camera-shy fowl stalked their prey. I didn’t get too close as to disrupt their feeding. But as migratory birds do, the total flock of about 15 were gone a day later.

Apologies if the picture being distorted. I’m trying different methods to post HD on my sites and t my first effort is a site called Vimeo which is actually rather advanced compared to the competition. Thanks to Bruce Thompson of Tracy Aviary and The Nature Conservancy for teaching me about these incredible animals and helping me understand the value of preserving our wetlands and all of Nature’s fantastic creatures!

After two weeks on the road shooting in southern Utah it’s great to be back home in Salt Lake. I now feel as if the entire state of Utah is mine: something to be proud of and protect, not just look at and exploit. I’m transferring nearly 300 GB of high def video to my main computer right now which should take several hours even though it’s hooked up by Firewire 400 and 800 which is faster than ethernet but not SATA. HD files are big. It’s a good thing they’re not film like the old days. I wouldn’t have room in the studio for all those aluminum canisters.

The whole experience was incredible. Like Tibet but different because Utah is home now and forever. I’ll admit to being overwhelmed sometimes by the reality of what I was seeing and feeling- whether it was hiking the skinny, scary trails of Zion or literally hanging from the cliffs of Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon to get that otherwise ungettable and utterly unforgettable shot. The weather couldn’t have been better, despite the snow at Brian Head the first three days of our trip and the frigid nights at Bryce which included an overnight snowstorm that I thought would blow our tipi all the way to Moab.

Having avoided “news” of any kind because of the lack of Internet and cell service, my disposition is not poisoned by politics and the usual outrages that constitute America’s daily diet of information from the corporate media. I know Hillary conceded, Bush is traveling abroad to avoid scrutiny at home and ruining John McCain’s doomed campaign, and the FLDS cult is getting its kids back. Truthfully, none of it is “news” just as the things I’ve been writing about here for months- the demise of America’s corporate media, the escalating war between renewable energy and Big Energy, gridlock in Iraq and Afghanistan- are merely logical manifestations of the unsustainable practices maintained by the status quo. Nothing much changes in two weeks- unless it’s 9/11.

But I really don’t feel like writing about those things right now. Despite the cold I caught camping in Bryce where temperatures were in the 30s at night, I feel fabulous. I can’t wait to start editing the amazing images I worked so hard to get in one of America’s most beautiful places. Like Tibet, the editing process will not only help clarify my experience but formulate the memories I’ll carry with me forever.

It was a relatively good winter for air quality along the Wasatch Front. But the bad old days are back as a summer-like weather pattern is muddying the normally cobalt-blue skies. It’s a reminder that solving Utah’s air pollution problem takes vigilence and real change- not luck and reliance on the weather.

For people who live in the Salt Lake City area, the only radio station worth listening to for music is KRCL. It’s a community-owned and operated station that lives on donations and I’ve given generously to them. The music ranges from just-arrived-in-the-mail to soul to trip-hop to classic blues and jazz. But it’s all good. They recently changed their format and business structure to eliminate volunteer air personalities during the daytime weekday hours replacing them with full-timers.

There was a chorus of protest from many listeners and a few of the outgoing volunteers not to mention trepediation among the thousands of long-time listeners. I’ll admit some of the volunteer DJs were good but most were pretty amateurish, admitting regularly on-air that they had not prepared their shows and sounding like they just got to the studio after taking their geometry mid-term. The new format has eliminated most of the nervous chit-chat and useless bantering, added more diverse music and made the station even more listenable.

I miss their mid-day public affairs talk show “Radioactive” which I was on last year talking about solar power. But it’s been moved to the evening which makes more sense. I give the changes a big endorsement. I’ve always been a believer in public radio, not necessarily government subsidized but serving the interests of the public- in this case, people who love music, particularly new music- and are, albeit inadvertantly, saving radio from its own greed and mismanagement. Rock on, KRCL. I’m listening- all the time.